Trudie Styler, Sebastián Lelio Join Berlin Jury

By Henry Chu

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Actress-director Trudie Styler and Chilean helmer Sebastián Lelio are among those tapped for jury duty at the upcoming Berlin Film Festival.

The Berlinale announced the full lineup of the main competition jury Tuesday for its 69th edition. U.S. film critic Justin Chang, German actress Sandra Hüller and American museum curator Rajendra Roy will join Lelio and Styler, as well as jury president Juliette Binoche, in deciding the winner of the Golden and Silver Bear awards out of the 17 films in competition.

Lelio’s “A Fantastic Woman” took home the Oscar for best foreign-language film last year, the first Chilean movie to do so. The film had screened in competition in Berlin in 2017, with lead performer Paulina Garcia winning the Silver Bear for best actress. Lelio’s latest film, “Disobedience,” stars Rachel Weisz and Rachel McAdams.

Styler is a British actress, director and producer whose directorial debut, “Freak Show,” premiered last year in Berlin’s Generation 14plus strand. Her production company, Maven Pictures, has two films screening in this year’s Berlinale: “Skin” by Guy Nattiv and “Driveways” by Andrew Ahn.

Hüller wowed audiences with her performance in Marin Ade’s 2016 film “Toni Erdmann,” which world-premiered in Cannes. She won the best actress Silver Bear for her role in Hans-Christian Schmid’s 2006 film “Requiem” and often appears on the German stage.

Chang, a former film critic for Variety, now writes for the Los Angeles Times. He is the author of a book on film editing and serves as chairman of the National Society of Film Critics.

Roy is chief curator of film at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, a post he has held since 2007. He has helped create exhibitions on directors Pedro Almodóvar, Wim Wenders and Tim Burton, among others.

Oscar-winning actress Binoche was named jury president in December .

The Berlin Film Festival runs Feb. 7-17.